Why does my wireless signal vary so much in reception?

First of all, this occurs at 3 different locations: My parents house, my apartment, and my network at school.

I have an Inspiron 600m with built in Intel 802.11b wireless.

Upon starting up my computer, my signal always starts out at "Very Low" or "Low" and I spend like 3-5 minutes opening up explorer windows trying to figure out if its my wireless connection that sucks or certain web sites that suck. After a few minutes of doing this (and sometimes adjusting the power to the wireless card), my signal strength eventually climbs up to a decent signal. Today, in one of my classes at school, the signal sarted out at "No Signal" for about 30 seconds. Then it went to "Very Low" for a good 3 or so minutes. At some point after that, it magically hits "Excellent." During this period, my laptop was sitting in one spot and didn't move any more than an inch. My wireless was already set to be 100% performance and everything, so I couldn't exactly adjust it to be any better. As a matter of fact, I'm still in the same spot, but now I have adjusted the card to take minimal power and my strength is still excellent.

I know it's not really a problem unless the signal stays bad, but it is rather a nuisance when I have some information I need to grab quickly.

Anyone have any clue as to what is causing this and/or how to fix it?
Anyone have any idea

Varying interference is probably causing your drops in reception. Normal and avoidable for a price.

PsYcO CyBrArIaN said:

Varying interference is probably causing your drops in reception. Normal and avoidable for a price.

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Don't think it would be possible even for a price here. I've got Centrino integrated wireless and the wireless network belongs to my school.

How would the interference change when the access point is sitting in one position, my laptop is sitting in one position, and all of the people in class are sitting in one position?

Also, it always starts out low, then goes high.

I've had situations where i've seen my signal strenth vary up to 10% but never something that extreme.

Are you running Windows XP? IF so, what is managing the connection, XP or the software?

See if there is updated firmware and drivers for your wireless card

nope. No firmware updates available. This is annoying.